This invention relates to apparatus for applying a liquid to particulate solid materials, such as coating liquid feed ingredients onto solid feed particles for animals.
Various forms of apparatus have been developed heretofore to apply a liquid onto solid particulate material, e.g., a fat and/or vitamins, feed supplements or the like, onto solid particles of animal feed. Those set forth in the inventor's prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,288,052 and 3,717,086 are exemplary. Typically, the particulate material is dropped onto a spinning disc which creates an annular curtain of falling particles onto which the liquid is ejected from another underlying rotating disc. The particle dispersing disc is mounted on and driven by a depending shaft, while the liquid dispersing disc is driven by an underlying motor. In the U.S. Pat. No. 3,717,086, the particles are propelled from a disc driven by an external motor, the particles then striking and falling from a sloping annular wall. The liquid is dispensed from a disc connected to another underlying external motor.
Although these items of equipment are believed to have operated better than the previously available devices, the inventor determined that there should be a simpler apparatus less likely to plug, capable of handling chunks of feed that might periodically occur, or pieces of paper or the like which may be contained in the particulate material, without disruption of the apparatus. The interior surfaces should remain clean of the product, and the apparatus should be capable of quick modification to handle various types of products and rates of flow, and not require a drive motor or drive mechanism below the liquid dispersing disc to potentially contaminate the product, or be fouled thereby, or cause product hangup.